Russia's Internet czar looks to squeeze more taxes from Google Play and App Store

One of Russian President Vladimir Putin's top advisors is looking to raise taxes on digital purchases made in the Google Play Store, along with Apple's iTunes and App Stores. German Klimenko, a Russian businessman, and the recently-appointed Internet czar for the country, is calling for an increased value-added tax (VAT) of up to 18 percent to be applied to digital purchases. The proposal would impact not just Apple and Google, but other non-Russian companies as well.

Klimenko, 49, is pushing to raise taxes on U.S. companies to help level the playing field for Russian competitors such as Yandex and Mail.ru. His efforts mirror those of governments across Europe and beyond to squeeze more revenue out of Google, Apple and other multinationals with increasingly complex billing and ownership structures.

Product categories affected by these new taxes include games, movies, and ads. Currently, VAT is charged on digital goods created by Russian companies, an issue that foreign businesses like Apple and Google don't have to deal with.

Russia's Internet czar looks to squeeze more taxes from Google Play and App Store

They are looking for money where ever they can find it. WIth the price of oil around $30 a barrel they need money to pay the bills as there government was paid by oil exports. If oil isn't around $70 a barrel or more they can't pay for the government without pulling money out of their reserves. That money won't last more than 5 or so years I think I heard.

Just like we did in the US when Japanese cars were taking over. We all see how that worked out. Cough cough, Chrysler, etc. This will do nothing to level the playing field. It is a cash grab.
A better solution is to beef up Russia's current run amuck hacker problem. Even Russians don't want to use Russian sites. We think it's bad over here, the internet in Russia is ten times worse.

They don't care about what works. They just want to remain in power. Money=Power
I concur with what was stated above, oil prices are going to be and more than likely, already are affecting Russia in a big way.